The expense of pet emergencies and the inflexibility of providers has been a topic this week after The Kalamazoo Gazette reported that Keri Kellogg-Hill and her husband, Kevin Hill, found themselves in quick need of a $1000-down payment for emergency surgery their dog needed. It was a Friday night and the family’s regular veterinary clinic had closed.

Their dog, Marley, died, and a post about the situation Keri put on her Facebook page, asking that it be shared, has resulted in the Kalamazoo emergency veterinary clinic and its staff being inundated by calls and e-mails blasting its uncaring stance in turning the animal away with first aid rather than extending credit to the owners. The Hills do not have a credit card and were denied for the card offered at the clinic.

Veterinarians and others have pointed out in the story and the discussion that followed that the government does not subsidize or reimburse veterinarians for their expenses or unpaid bills as may be the case with human hospitals. Nor, locally, do animal welfare groups provide such a safety net, it seems.

“No, no we would not be in a position to have paid that bill,” Winters said.

The Humane Socety had an emergency medical program a number of years ago, Winters said, designed to extend help to people who were unable to pay unexpected veterinary bills. “We never went into it expecting money to come back, though we encouraged them” to repay or give back to the program when they were able, he said. “Quite honestly, nobody ever did."

Need soon outpaced the program's resources.

“We don’t have an official program anymore,” Winters said. “It got to be overwhelming for us.”

Just three weeks ago the SPCA of Southwest Michigan of Kalamazoo
County was awarded a $2,500 grant from the Petco Foundation to fund the
Keeping Tails Wagging program which helps financially-strapped pet
owners keep their companion animals when they may otherwise have to
relinquish or abandon them.

Katie Timber, director of the SPCA, said she was not contacted about Marley's need, but that there is a $200 cap per family.

The
SPCA of Southwest Michigan is a nonprofit, no-kill animal rescue
organization that serves the West Michigan area. Timber said that at this
time, she knows of no other programs to help with emergency care.

"We have applied for more grants," she said. "$2,500 is not enough. "

The Humane Society still occasionally contributes toward care for service animals or in other rare cases where costly care is needed, Winters said. And it is working with the county to come up with a way to help prevent costly pet illnesses and help low-income pet owners keep pets healthy. “Maybe in the future we may be able to help in some ways," Winters said.

Meanwhile, though, it's each pet owner’s responsibility to be prepared.

Winters said he’s never seen a rule of thumb specifying an amount that dog owners should have on hand to cover emergencies, but he’s seen countless examples of costly situations.

The dog who stepped on a piece of glass and seriously cut its foot, requiring delicate surgical repair. The dog with a habit of swallowing socks (who eventually died from an intestinal blockage). The cat who licked and swallowed Christmas ribbon, which had to be removed from its intestines.

“I had a Golden Retriever once that swallowed a walnut. She died, they opened her up, massaged her heart” and the dog's life was restored. But the oxygen deprivation to her brain resulted in a lengthy recuperation during which she had to be taught to walk and eat again, he said. Ever after, they still had to watch her carefully to prevent a recurrence of the swallowing episode that caused the problem, he said. “She just liked to eat stuff -- they do that,” Winters said.

If an urgent problem arises during the day, “hopefully if you have a longstanding relationship with a veterinarian and have paid the bill on a regular basis they are more apt to work with you on a payment plan,” Winters said.

If you’ve never had a relationship with a vet, and have an emergency, day or night, they may be very careful about providing care if they know they might not be paid, he said. And animals have an uncanny knack for needing attention after hours, when most veterinary clinics have closed, he said.

“In the old days, a call center would call your vet, and the vet would throw some clothes on and meet you at the clinic,” he said.

Now most veterinarians don’t see emergencies after hours, and many don’t even during regular hours, he said, deferring to emergency clinics that are staffed with specialty trained veterinarians and are also equipped to do x-rays, blood work and handle the demands of surgery and emergency treatments that not every clinic is equipped to handle.

“They deal with critical issues, and they have a staff available to do that," Winters said. That costs more. “You are paying for the fact that someone is being paid to be there overnight whether anyone goes there or not,” he said. “There is a cost to that, just as if you go to the hospital emergency room for three stitches it will cost more than if you get three stitches in your doctor’s office.”

Winters said that as the Humane Society works with Kalamazoo County to build a new animal shelter it is also hoping to create some sort of resource center in coming years that can help people with pets in crisis.

“We feel extremely frustrated," Winters said, "when people call us and are desperate for help and we are not able to help them.”

Winters said he is not sure how many animal breeders or adoption shelters advise new owners that they will need a sizable emergency fund.

“In some cases, they may assume it’s common sense but it’s not that common," Winters said. "I hear people all the time who say: ‘I didn’t know it would cost $200-$800 if my dog got parvo (virus).'”

“People often buy an animal," Winters said, "and think: ‘Gosh, I have enough money to put a bowl of food in front of it and buy a collar and a leash’ and they never think the dog may dart out the door and in front of a car and now the animal needs medical care that they’ve made no provision for.

“If you don’t think its ever going to happen again, think again. Even the best pet owners have pet emergencies.”